May 2026

Growing old gracefully: US hot spots for increased life expectancy revealed

In many advanced economies populations are growing and, at the same time, the average age is rising. This holds true for the U.S., where new research reveals that West Virginia leads the list, with its residents aging nearly eight years faster than the rest of the country. This is based on an April 2026 report conducted by a firm called Auragens, who measured both biological and psychological aging across all 50 states. Biological aging included six factors: physical inactivity, obesity, heart disease,...

Older people risk mental decline if they do long hours of caring, UK study shows

The stresses and strains of caring for someone for 50 hours or more a week leads to “accelerated cognitive decline” in middle-aged and older people, research shows. However, providing care for only five to nine hours a week has the opposite effect, boosting brain health so much that the benefits last until older age. Carers UK called the findings “extremely worrying” and said they highlight how long hours spent providing care raises the risk of social isolation and burnout. Dr Baowen Xue,...

IMANI Analyst: Ghana Pension Funds Can Finance the Energy Sector

As Ghana confronts the long-term challenge of building a stable, reliable, and affordable energy sector, a policy analyst at IMANI Africa is proposing an unconventional source of capital: the billions of cedis quietly accumulating in the country’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 pension funds. John Sitsofe Mensah, Associate for Technology Policy and Innovation at IMANI’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSTI), argues that Ghana has been sitting on a largely untapped financing opportunity while continuing to court foreign...

Early retirement may be contributing to Gen X’s cognitive decline

While economists sound alarms about Gen Z unemployment, new research points to a quieter crisis: Gen X workers retiring years before 65—and paying a steep cognitive price for it. About 35% of workers who have been unemployed for more than 24 weeks are over the age of 55, according to an April 2025 analysis. Over the last 35 years, the retirement age for men in particular has gotten younger, with about half of retirees saying they made the choice to...

April 2026

How to live a longer and happier life, according to science

You want to be happier. You want to feel more fulfilled. You want to live a longer, healthier life. Hold that thought. Lewis Terman, a Stanford University psychologist, was a pioneer in I.Q. testing. His revisions of the Stanford-Binet test helped it become a widespread tool for measuring general intelligence. In 1921, he identified 1,500 children who had scored 135 or higher on the test and began one of the longest longitudinal studies ever conducted. (The New York Times calls Terman and his study of “Termites,” as the kids called themselves, the “grandfather of...

Can Nigeria’s N27 Trillion Pension Assets Rescue Its Aailing Health Sector?

Nigeria’s pension fund assets experienced an unprecedented 20% surge in 2025, reaching a total of N27.3 trillion (approximately KES 2.35 trillion) by the end of December. While this growth represents a significant triumph for the National Pension Commission (PenCom), a critical debate is now emerging: can these vast resources be diverted from financing government deficits to fixing Nigeria’s chronic healthcare financing gap? Currently, the overwhelming majority of these assets—over 65%—are invested in Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) securities. While these...

Why climate action matters for healthy longevity

Global life expectancy has more than doubled in just over a century, from around 32 years in 1900 to about 73 years today. This is the result of cleaner water, better nutrition, vaccines and more resilient health systems. But these gains now face a slower-burning threat: A rapidly warming planet. Climate change has long been associated with risks such as sea-level rise and biodiversity loss. Now it raises deeper questions of whether future generations will live not only longer lives, but healthier ones...

March 2026

How a Healthy Mind-Set Influences Longevity

Nan Niland, 72, volunteers about 15 hours a week at a home goods pantry. “I needed to feel like I was doing something other than pleasing myself,” Ms. Niland said.Tony Luong For The New York Times A few qualities, including a sense of purpose, seem to have real benefits — especially as you age. Nan Niland, 72, worked as a dentist for 40 years. “It really was my self-definition,” she said. “Probably too much.” When she retired in 2020, she settled into...

Yale study challenges notion that aging means decline, finds many older adults improve over time

Aging in later life is often portrayed as a steady slide toward physical and cognitive decline. But a new study by scientists at Yale University suggests an alternate narrative — that older individuals can and do improve over time and their mindset toward aging plays a major part in their success. Analyzing more than a decade of data from a large, nationally representative study of older Americans, lead author Becca R. Levy, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at...

February 2026

Forever Chemicals Linked to Faster Aging in Middle-Aged Men, Study Finds

A new study shows that exposure to two specific 'forever chemicals' may accelerate biological aging, especially in middle-aged men. These chemicals – PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid) and PFOSA (perfluorooctanesulfonamide) – are just two of the thousands of 'forever chemicals', or to use the more technical term, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Used widely since the 1940s and 1950s, PFAS are found in raincoats, upholstery, non-stick pans, food packaging, firefighting foams, and much more. This vast range of synthetic substances was specifically designed to be durable. They...